Textile fiber core package



Oct. 16, 1962 c. J. Russo ET AL 3,058,690

TEXTILE FIBER CORE PACKAGE Original Filed Feb. 4, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 1CARL .7 k X Arm/uls- Y Oct. 16, 1962 c. J. RUSSO ETAL TEXTILE FIBER COREPACKAGE 7 Original Filed Feb. 4', 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 a m W 000 7 N awM UUA T w H zmm 1962 c. J. Russo EI'AL ,058,690

TEXTILE FIBER coma PACKAGE Original Filed Feb 4, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENIORS CARL Q0550 AL/FXA N051? 4. 77?/Fu/v0|//C BY HENRY/LS/IVJK/ ATTORNE Y Get 16, 19 2 c. J. Russo ET AL 3,058,690.

TEXTILE FIBER CORE PACKAGE Original Filed Feb. 4, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 40 I L/NE OVf/V BY HE A TTORNf Y United States Patent 3,058,690 TEXTILEFIBER CORE PACKAGE Carl J. Russo, Newark, Alexander L. Trifunovic,Wilmington, and Henry A. Sinski, Clifton Heights, Del., assignors toJoseph Bancroft & Sons Co., Wilmington, Del., a corporation of DelawareOriginal application Feb. 4, 1957, Ser. No. 638,027, now Patent No.2,960,729, dated Nov. 22, 1960. Divided and this application Mar. 9,1960, Ser. No. 13,925

1 Claim. (Cl. 242-459) This invention relates to a method and apparatusfor handling and treating fibers which have been crimped in a stuffercrimper.

This application is a division of our copending application Serial No..638,027, filed on February 4, 1957 now Patent No. 2,960,729 for Methodand Apparatus for Treating Textile Fibers.

An object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus of theabove type having novel and improved characteristics.

Another object is to provide a novel and improved system for maintainingthe crimp in a mass of crimped fibers during subsequent treating andsetting operations.

Another object is to provide improved mechanism wherein the crimpedfibers may be treated and set independently of the operation of thestuffer crimper.

Another object is to provide means for packaging the mass of crimpedfibers as discharged from the stuffer crimper and for maintaining themass in compacted form during the setting and processing stages.

Another object is to provide means whereby the processed fibers infilament or spun yarn form are withdrawn from the package and wound ontoa spool or cop for subsequent use.

The features of the invention will be better understood by referring tothe following description, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings in which certain specific embodiments have been set forth forpurposes of illustration.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus for wrapping and reeling themass of crimped fibers which are discharged from the stuifer crimper,with parts in section for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are detail views illustrating dififerent embodiments ofmechanism for controlling the operation of the packaging apparatus ofFIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5 is a partial section taken on the line 55 of FIG. 6 illustratinga further embodiment of packaging apparatus;

FIG. 6 is a vertical section taken on the line 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of an apparatus with parts in section forunreeling and winding the processed fibers;

FIG. 8 is a partial section taken on the line 88 of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the package treating stages.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 the stufier crimper is shown as of thegeneral type disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,760,252 andcomprises a block 10 which may be heated if desired and which carries atube 11 forming the crimping chamber. A pair of feed rolls 12 and 13which are driven by suitable means not shown are adapted to feed afilament tow or yarn 14 into the lower end of the tube 11 for crimping.Suitable yarn guides 15 are provided for guiding the yarn 14 to the biteof the rolls 12 and 13. The roll 13 may be spring-pressed as by means ofa spring 16 for gripping the yarn for feeding the same into the tube 11against the pressure of a mass 17 of crimped yarn held therein and forforcing the mass of crimped 'yarn along said tube until it is dischargedfrom the discharge end 18 thereof.

In the embodiment shown the discharge end 18 of the tube 11 is bent toaltar the path of the mass 17 by about 90. This change in direction ofthe path of the mass of crimped yarn alters the back pressure which isexerted against the entrance of the yarn by the feed rolls 12 and 13.This pressure may be varied or adjusted to the desired value by varyingthe length of the tube 11 and the angular bend at the discharge end 18.

A tape 20 is withdrawn from a supply roll 21 by a driven roll 22 and isfed around guide rolls 23, 24 and 25 to underlie the mass of crimpedfibers 17 as they are discharged from the end 18 of the tube 11. Theroll 22 is driven through gears in a gear box 26 from a driven shaft 27which is driven by a suitable motor not shown. A presser roll 28 pressesthe tape 20 against the driven roll 22 to provide the necessary tractionfor withdrawing the tape from the reel 21.

As the tape 20 advances from the guide roll 25 with the mass of crimpedfibers disposed thereon, the tape is folded over by a folder 29 intotubelike form so as to wrap and confine the mass of crimped fibers 17 inthe form of a continuous tube-like package 30.

The tape 20 may be of the thermoplastic type in which case theoverlapped edges may be heat-sealed in the usual manner for retainingthe tape in tubular form during subsequent operations. The tape may bemade of pervious material such as an open mesh fabric to permitpenetration of a treating agent into the packaged mass of fibers, andthe overlapped edge may or may not be sealed depending upon the natureof the subsequent treatment.

The tube 30 of crimped fibers thus wrapped is reeled on a perforatedsleeve 31 which is held on a spindle 32 carried by a shaft 33 which isdriven by a belt 34 from a pulley 35 on the motor shaft 27. The tensionof the belt 34 may be maintained by idler pulley 36.

The shaft 33 is driven through a tension drag 37 which is adapted toexert the necessary force for reeling the tube 30 of crimped fibers onthe sleeve 31, and to provide slippage when the tension of the tube 30exceeds a predetermined value. Means is provided for shifting thespindle 32 and the shaft 33 axially as required for laying the tube 30on the sleeve 31 in the form of uniform layers as in the usual windingmachine. The sleeve 31 is provided with flanges removably mountedthereon.

The operation is continued until the winding of crimped fibers on thesleeve 31 reaches the required size after which the sleeve and windingis removed and a new sleeve of rolls 40 and 41. The roll 41 is mountedon an arm 42 3 which is pivoted at 43 to bear against the tube 30 and toshift in position in accordance with the fullness of the tube. The arm42 is provided with an extension 44 which is adapted to actuate amicroswitch 45 when the roll 41 approaches the roll 40. The microswitch45 is connected by means not shown to control the drive for the spindle32 and is adapted when a loosely packed portion of the tube 30 passesthe rolls 40 and 41 to interrupt the feed of the spindle 32 until themass of material discharged from the crimper tube 11 again fills thepackage 30 to the predetermined extent. The roll 41 also serves tointerrupt the feed when the discharge of material from the discharge endof the crimper tube 11 is interrupted. Obviously a mechanical linkagemay be substituted for the microswitch for controlling the feed.

A further embodiment of control means is shown in FIG. 4. In this figurea feeler 48 is disposed to contact the mass of crimped yarn between theend 18 of the crimper tube 11 and the folder 29. The feeler 48 ispivoted at 49 and is adapted to actuate a microswitch 50 as the feelerrises and falls due to differences in the quantity of the mass ofcrimped yarn which is delivered from the crimper tube 11. Themicroswitch 50 is connected to control the feed of the tape 20 so as tointerrupt the feed when the feeler 48 senses a break in the mass offibers passing the feeler station. In this way the operation iscontrolled so that the wrapped package 30 of fibers is maintainedsubstantially uniform.

In the operation of the systems shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 the crimped fibersare discharged in the form of a compact mass from the end 18 of thecrimper tube 11 and it has been found that the mass tends to retain itsform as it is discharged from the end of the crimper tube, although themass may open up slightly due to the release of pressure. This mass offibers is immediately laid on the tape 20 and passes through the folder29 with the tape so that the tape is progressively folded around themass and tends to hold the same in compacted form. The tape serves as aconvenient carrier for packaging and handling the fibers and at the sametime prevents the crimp from opening up between the crimping and settingsteps.

The wrapped tubular package 30 is reeled onto the sleeve 31 to form acompact winding which may be subsequently handled and passed throughvarious treating and setting stages to be described.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 the mass of crimped fibersdischarged from the end of the crimping tube 11 is advanced and reeledbetween a pair of tapes instead of being wrapped as in the embodiment ofFIGS. 1 and 2. In FIGS. 5 and 6 the mass of crimped fibers which isdischarged from the end of the crimper tube 11 is fed between tapes 55and 56 in substantially the form in which it is discharged from thecrimper tube. The fiber mass is sufiiciently compact and self-supportingso that it retains its form even though the sides of the mass remainunconfined. The tape 55 passes around and in contact with the outersurface of the bent end 18 of the crimper tube 11. The tape 56 is heldin contact with the opposite face of the crimper tube 11 by an idlerroll 57. The mass of fibers at the discharge end of the tube 11 ispicked up between the two tapes 55 and 56 and is reeled with the tapesinto a sleeve 58 between side flanges 59. The sleeve 58 is disposed on aspindle 60 which is driven by suitable means not shown. When the desiredquantity of material has been wound onto the sleeve 58 the sleevetogether with the flanges 59 is removed and the package thus formed ispassed through the subsequent treating and setting stages without thenecessity of removing the flanges 59.

The yarn packages on the sleeves 31 or 38 may be treated for setting thecrimp or dyeing the yarn in various ways. As shown in *FIG. 9 the woundpackages are stacked on dye tubes 61 of standard pressure dyeing tank62. The dye may be forced through the masses of fibers onto the variouspackages from the dye tubes 61 and circulated in the usual manner. Fromthe tank 62 the packages may be removed to a second tank 63 wherein theymay be centrifuged for removing the excess liquid and may be dried in anoven 64.

If the fibers are to be resin-treated they may be impregnated with theresin in the first tank 62, centrifuged for removing excess impregnantin tank 63, dried in oven 64 and cured by heating in a curing oven 65.

Alternatively the packages may be impregnated with a resin in tank 62,centrifuged to remove excess resin in tank 63, impregnated with acatalyst in stage 64 and dried and cured in oven 65.

If the fibers are to be steam set, steam may be passed through the tubes61 in tank 62 for setting the crimp and the packages may be dried inoven 64.

In a further embodiment the crimp may be set while the fibers are in thestutfer crimper by the application of heat to the block 10 in which casethe crimp-set fibers in the packages may be dyed in the pressure dyeingtank 62 and dried in oven 64.

Various other combinations of steps will be readily apparent. In anyevent the mass is treated in such a way as to set the crimp in thefibers and to dye or further process the fibers as desired while stillwound in package form.

The mechanism for withdrawing and winding the crimped yarn is shown inFIGS. 7 and 8. In this mechanism the sleeve 31 carrying the packages oftreated and crimp-set yarn is disposed on a de-reeling spindle 70 andthe wrapped tube 30 is withdrawn between a pair of rolls 71 and 72. Thetape 20 is unwrapped from the package as it passes over the roll 72 andis smoothed out by the pressure shoe 73 and a backing plate 730 feedsover a roll 73b and is reeled onto a roll 74 for subsequent reuse. Theroll 74 is driven by a gear train 75 from a drive motor 76. The tape maybe slit in advance of the rolls 71 and 72 if necessary.

The operation of the drive motor 76 is controlled by a microswitch 77which is adapted to be actuated by an arm 78 carrying the roll 71 andspring-pressed into engagement with the wrapped tube 30 by means of aspring 79.

The crimped yarn is withdrawn under tension from the mass of yarn in thepackage by means of a winder comprising a spool 80 on which the yarn iswound and a driving roll 81 on which the winding rests. The winder isshown as a constant speed winder of the usual construction. The crimpedyarn on its way to the winder passes through a friction drag device 82.

In the operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 the mass ofcrimped yarn is fed from the sleeve 31 to the discharge point at thebite of the rolls 71 and 72 at which point the mass is unwrapped and thecrimped yarn is withdrawn by the constant speed winder.

As the yarn is withdrawn from the mass between the rolls 71 and 72 theroll 71 approaches the roll 72, thereby actuating the microswitch andoperating the motor 76 to withdraw a further quantity of the wrappedtube 30 from the sleeve 31 so as to maintain a substantially uniformquantity of yarn at the discharge point. The yarn is thus uniformlywithdrawn without danger of tangling and is wound onto the spool 80 toform a yarn package of the usual type.

What is claimed is:

A package of textile fibers comprising a continuous core composed of acontinuous filament yarn folded and packed to form a packed mass havingrandom folds, wherein the folds are retained in said mass by thecompacting pressure of the mass of filaments in the core, said corehaving substantially the same cross section throughout its length, atubular support, and a tape wound together with said core in successiveconvolutions on said support, the core being held confined and compactedby said tape and the convolutions of said core being separated by theintervening tape, the support and said tape being pervious to liquidswhereby treating liquid can be forced through said core from Within saidsupport.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 6Smith Jan. 6, 1914 Reber June 17, 1930 Dom Apr. 12, 1932 Sackner Nov.19, 1935 Sexton Nov. 3, 1936 Lippmann Mar. 13, 1951 De Vault et a1. July14, 1953 Hanson Apr. 8, 1958 Rainard Oct. 7, 1958

